For the Geek in all of us

Interview with Jennifer Kloester, Author of The Cinderella Moment

Please give a warm welcome to Jennifer Kloester! She’s here to talk about her new release The Cinderella Moment.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] Describe yourself in 140 characters or less.

[Jennifer Kloester] I’m an adventure-loving book addict with a passion for writing. I love karate, Paris and my garden. I believe in kindness and integrity.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] Can you tell us a little about The Cinderella Moment?

[Jennifer Kloester] It’s a contemporary novel set in New York and Paris with a 16 year-old heroine who dreams of being a fashion designer. She’s entering a fashion design competition called the Teen Couture but when things go wrong she has to go to Paris and masquerade as her best friend. It’s all fashion, glitz and high society, and of course nothing turns out as she expected – especially after she meets a gorgeous guy who thinks she’s someone else!

[Manga Maniac Cafe] How did you come up with the concept and the characters for the story?

[Jennifer Kloester] I was living in the Middle East and read a story in a magazine about these girls who were in Paris for a grand ball and my heroine Angel and her dream of winning the Teen Couture just fell into my head fully formed. I knew she wanted more than anything to be a fashion designer and that her mom was a housekeeper and her best friend the daughter of the mega-rich family her mom worked for and the story just grew from there. Funnily enough, I didn’t realise just how many links to the original Cinderella story there were in my book until I’d finished it!

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What three words best describe Angel?

[Jennifer Kloester] passionate, determined,romantic

[Manga Maniac Cafe] If Angel had a theme song, what would it be?

[Jennifer Kloester] Adele’s version of "Promise This"

[Manga Maniac Cafe] Name one thing Angel is never without.

[Jennifer Kloester] A sketchbook.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What three things will you never find in Angel’s purse?

[Jennifer Kloester] A car key cause she hasn’t got her license yet and who drives in New York anyway?

A credit card – maybe one day when she can afford it.

Pepper spray – Angel’s not afraid of boys, she just hasn’t met one she really likes – yet!

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What are your greatest creative influences?

[Jennifer Kloester] Other books, other writers – as Stephen Kings says – ‘if you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.’ All kinds of music and the things people say – I love listening to people’s words and conversations – you never know where the next big idea will come from.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What three things do you need in order to write?

[Jennifer Kloester] Time, a pen or laptop, discipline (is that four things?)

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What was your biggest distraction while working on The Cinderella Moment?

[Jennifer Kloester] My family (immediate and extended) and household chores that suddenly became much more appealing than usual!

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What is the last book that you read that knocked your socks off?

[Jennifer Kloester] "The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" I loved it because it was clever, had memorable characters, and it made me laugh.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] If you had to pick one book that turned you on to reading, which would it be?

[Jennifer Kloester] When I was six I read "The Good Master’ by Kate Seredy. I still remember it vividly.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What do you like to do when you aren’t writing?

[Jennifer Kloester] I love karate and got my black belt last year. Training in the martial arts is the perfect contrast sitting at my computer all day. I also love gardening and the beach. I’d say travel but I usually write when I’m travelling – so much great material.

Let the masquerade begin! Angel Moncoeur has always wanted to be a fashion designer, but without money or connections, it’s going to be a challenge. When an opportunity to leave her home in New York and head to Paris appears, Angel grabs it – even if it means masquerading as her best friend Lily. That can’t be too hard, can it? But when she falls in love with her very own Prince Charming who thinks she’s someone else, Angel embarks on a plan to secure her happily ever after. THE CINDERELLA MOMENT is a fabulously fun story about high society, mistaken identity, love, betrayal, friendship – and great clothes

About the author:

Jennifer Kloester is passionate about books and writing. She is the author of two books on the bestselling historical novelist Georgette Heyer: Georgette Heyer’s Regency World and Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller. The Cinderella Moment is her first novel. She is currently writing the sequel The Rapunzel Dilemma. In her spare time Jennifer loves to travel and train in karate.